Numbering head



Patented June l0, 1924.

^' i OFFICE;

GEORGE A. MAYER, or LAKEWOOD, OHIO. Asseivoa 'ro 'run Manif-FOLDcontrari?,

or CLEVELAND, OHIO, A CORPORATIO or Orrro. Y

NUI/inname HEAD.

Appncaaon med August 21, 1922.k serial No. 583,093.

To all whom t may concern.'

Be it known that I, GEORGE A. MAYER, a citizen of the United States,residing at Lakewood, in the county of Cuyahoga and State of Ohio, haveinvented a certain new and useful Improvement in Numbering Heads, ofwhich the following is -a full, clear, and exact description, referencebeing had to the accompanying drawings.

Thisinvention relates to an improvement in mechanisms known as numberingheads which are used on printing presses for printing serial numbersupon a series of forms or sheets which are being successively advancedthrough the press either in the form of a continuous web or asindividual sheets.

The style of numbering head wherein l have shown my invention embodiedis designed for use especially upon printing presses of the rotary type.

The one serious defect in printing heads as heretofore constructed istheir occasional failure to advance the numbering wheels, causing themto repeat a number and thus throw out oforder an entire series ofblanks, Or forms. Sometimes this is not detected until after the job iscompleted, which renders the entire product of the operation practicallyworthless. At. best, this defect in numbering heads causes a great dealof annoyance, inconvenience, and loss of time, labor, and material.

This unreliability of the numbering heads is due to lost motion, or alooseness of parts, in the driving connections between the element whichis responsible for the operation of the numbering head, and thepawlcarry" ing member which advances the numbering wheels. Itis quiteinfrequent that trouble occurs in new mechanisms; but after acomparatively short period of service, the parts become worn and thediiiculty above pointed out begins. v

VIt is the purpose of my invention to provide means that will insure afull and coin` plete stroke of the pawl carrying member regardless ofany lost motion which may occur in the driving connections due tothelooseness of parts occasioned by wear or'othe'r cause: By the .provisionof such a means, the numbering head is rendered absolutely reliable, andall trouble heretofore caused by the Occasional failure of the numberinghead is eliminated.

A practical embodiment of the invention` is illustrated in theaccompanying drawing wherein Fig. l shows, in side elevation, anumbering head incorporating my invention and as mounted upon a carryingelement or drum, of a yrotary press; Fig. .2 is an end elevation of thenumbering, head, asthough viewed from thev plane of line 2-2 and lookinginthe direction'of the arrows, the adjacentend plate of the headbeing'e; moved; Fig. .3 is a section on the line 73-3 of-Fig, 2 5 Figfiis. a transverseVv section through kthe head on the line a-a of Fig. 1,looking inthe direction of the arrows designated 4L; Fig. 5 is a sectionon the line -.ai of Fig. l, lookingy in the direction of the arrowsdesignated 5 Fig.y 6 is a viewsimilar to Fig. 5, showing theadvancedposition of the pawl carrying yoke or member; Fig; 7 is anenlargement of a part of Fig. 2; and Fig. 8 is a perspective view of oneof the pin carrying arms through which ypower is transmitted fromthe-rock shaft to the paw] carrying yoke or member.

In Fig. l, the carrying element or .socalled drum of a rotary press isdesignated A., and a stationary part of the press, which constitutes theprime actuator of the numbering head or heads, is designated B. Thispart. B may be inthe nature of a stationary disk O'r plate having a camgroove Z) within which thefpin or roller c of an arm G` travels. The armC is secured to the end of a rock shaft'D, which extends through thenumbering head or heads which is or are secured to the carrying elementor drum A of the press in transverse alignment. These press parts form'-no part of my in'n vention, are well known by those acquainted with theprinting art,A andconstitute only one of many apparatuses incOnnectionLwit-h which numbering heads of the type shown are adapted foruse. Accordingly, further illustration and description of the press isdeemed unnecessary except to relate that as the carrying'element or drumrotates and carries with it the shaft D, the pin or roller c of the armG travels the groove ,b of the part B, and said groove isV of such asha-pe as to rock the shaft at predetermined points through an angle ofmovement substantially equal to that required by the pawl carrying yokeor member of a numbering head in order to cause it to properly advancethe wheels. Y

The numbering head, which is of standard type, comprises a housing 1,shown as formed of an integral piece of material and as having end walls2 and 3 which rise from a base 4 that is shown as having .its undersurface curved transversely to fit the contour of the carrying elementor drum A. The base is provided with a dovetail slot 5 which embraces arail 6 offcorresponding shape that is carried by the element or drum A.The head is secured to said rail in a properly adjusted positiontherealong by set screws 7 A sleeve 10 has its ends secured withinopenings of the end walls 2 and 3, as by means of pins or screws 11; andthe ends of said sleeve are shown as flush with the bottoms of recesses12 which are formed in the outer surfaces of the end walls 2 and 3,andwhich recesses are adapted to be closed by end plates 13 and 14 thatare applied to the respective walls 2 and 3. Occupying each of therecesses 12 is a pin carrying arm 16, one of which is shown inperspective in Fig'S. The hub portion of each of the arms 16 surroundsthe shaft D which extends through the sleeve'10 and through aligningapertures inthe plates 1,3 and 14. Eachl of the arms 16 has a key 1Twhich occupies the spline or keyway 18 in the shaft D. Pins 20, whichextend laterally from the `tree ends of the arms 16, pass througharcuate slots 21 in the end walls 2 and 3 and have their inner endsengaged within holes in the end branches 22 of the pawl carrying yoke ormember 23. The end branches of said member or yoke have bearingapertures thatv are occupied by the sleeve 10. n

vrFrom the construction thus far described, it willbe seen that uponeach oscillation of the shaft D, a like movement will be imparted to thepawl carrying member or yoke 23 by reason of the latters connection withlthe shaft through the arms 16 and pins 20.

f Journaled upon the sleeve 1G, between the end branches 22 of the pawlcarrying member or yoke, are a plurality of numberingl wheels 25, havingtype 26 embossed on their peripheries. nisms, each numbering wheelrepresents an ordinal of a number, and the type thereof n progressingfrom 0 to 9 thereabout, represent the digits of the ordinal to which thewheel corresponds. Each wheel incorporates a ratchet 28, the same havinga tooth for each of the digits, and at some point in its circumference,each ratchet has a relatively deep notch 29 that occurs between twoadjacent teeth. v

A multiple pawl 30 is ypivotally connected As is usual in such mech-afat 31 to the pawl carrying member or yoke and it has a tooth 32 whichcorresponds with and is in the plane of each of the ratchets 28. lt willbe noted from F ig. l, that the teeth 32 become gradually shorter fromleft to right, as the pawl is viewed in Fig. 1V, and the same isapparent from F ig. 4. Overthrow of the numbering` wheels is preventedby detents 35, pivoted at 36 to the housing 1, the noses of the detentsbeing projected into contact with the ratchets 28 by springs 37which arecontained within recesses 38 of the base 41 and bear against the lowerends o f said detents.

As the parts are illustrated, only the longest tooth 32 of the pawl 30is engaging a ratchet of a numbering wheel. Consequently, when the shaftD is oscillated and the pawl carrying yoke or member accordingly rocked,the numbering wheel whose ratchet is engaged by the longest tooth 32will be the only one that is advanced, this being the numbering wheel atthe left of the series, as the head is viewed in Fig. 1. This wheel willbe moved a step each time the shaft D is oscillated, and finally whenthe longest tooth registers with the notch 29 in its respective ratchet28, said tooth will enter said notch, allowing the pawl 30 to be rockedby its spring t0 further than before so as to engage the next shortertooth 32 with its respective ratchet which is that of the second wheelfrom the left of the series. Consequently, upon the veryV nextoscillation of the shaft D, both wheels under discussion will beadvanced one step, after which the longest tooth of the pawl willcontinue to operate upon its ratchet to the exclusion of the others, theother teeth being held away from their ratchets by the engagement of thelongest tooth with the periphery of its respective ratchet. Finally,when the notches 29 ofthe two left hand end wheels are in alignment, thecorresponding teeth of the pawl will be allowed to enter said notchessufficiently to permit the third tooth to engage its ratchet and advanceits wheel one step, and so on.

Now it invariably happens after these numbering' heads have been inservice for a time that certain parts in the driving connections betweenthe prime actuator B and the pawl carrying member or yoke 23 becomeworn, resulting in sufficient lost motion to pre-vent the pawl 30 frombeing oscillated through an angle as great as the angular spacing of theteeth of the ratchets 28, thus giving rise to the difficultyhereinbefore related of the failure of the numbering head to registereach time it is actuated.

To overcome such failure, notwithstanding the wear of parts involved inthe driving connections, I provide, according tothe present embodimentof my invention, a spring 40, which may be constructed of suitableresilient wire, coiled at 41 about a peg 42 and secured, as by a screw43, to the adjacent end wall 3 of the housing. The free end oi' thespring is arranged to engage one or the other of bearing surfacesdesignated 45 and 46 that are disposed at an angle to each other. Thesebearing surfaces in the present instance, are formed by the bottom or'a. groove 47 which is occupied by the free end or' the spring 40. Thegroove 47 is for the obvious purpose of maintaining the spring in properrelation to the pawl carrying member or yoke at all times. In otherwords, it forms a guide for the spring. The spring 40, when acting uponthe bearing suri'ace 45, insures a full and complete movement oitl theyoke or member 23 in a direction to retract the pawl.

pawl carrying yoke or member as to insure a full and complete throw ofthe pawl carrying member or yoke in the` wheel-advancing direction.Consequently, all that. is necessary to insure proper operation of thenumbering head is to impart sufficient initial movement to the pawlcarrying yoke or member 23 by the prime actuator to throw said member oryoke over center, so to speak, in the direction to retract the pawl, oruntil the high point between the bearing surfaces 45 and 46 is moved inthe proper direction beyond the free end of the spring 40. The springwill then move it to the full extent of its throw independently of theprime actuator. So long as none of the parts of the driving connectionscompletely gives way, suiicient movement is transmitted therethroughfrom the prime mover to the pawl carrying member, to insure this initialmovementof the pawl carrying yoke or member.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim is:

l. In a numbering head of the character set forth, in combination withthe pawl carrying member, means cooperating with said Preferably theshaft D is so adjusted and related to the member to move it to theeXtreme limit of its movement in a direction to retract the pawlindependent-ly of the prime actuator of said member.

2. In a numbering head of the character set forth, in combination withthe pawl carrying member, a prime actuator for positively moving saidmember in a direction to advance the numbering wheels and for initiatingthe return movement of said member, and aspring for completing thereturn movement ot' said member independently of the prime actuator.

3. In a numbering head of the character set forth, in combination withthe pawl carrying member, said member having a bearing surface,resilient means engaging said bearing surface thereby to move saidmember to the eXtreme limit of its movement in the same direction butindependently of the prime actuator of said member.

4. In a numbering head of the character set forth, comprising a` housingand a pawl carrying yoke pivotally supported in said housing, oneI ofthe end branches of the yoke having a groove and a spring carried by thehousing and having its end engaged within said groove, the springserving to move the yoke to the eXtreme limit of its movement in a givendirection independently of the prime actuator of t-he yoke.

5. In a numbering head of the character set forth, comprising a housingand a pawl carrying yoke pivotally supported in said housing, one of theend branches of the yoke having a guide, and a spring carried by thehousing and having its end maintained by `said guide in operativerelation to said branch of the yoke, the spring acting to move the yoketo the eXtreme limit of its movement in a. given direction independentlyof the prime actuator of the yoke.

In testimony whereof, I hereunto aix my signature.

GEORGE A. MAYER.

